Numerical simulation of separated flows around a hybrid rigid-flexible thin plate

The VIV (Vortices-induced vibration) created by trailing vortices shedding is a typically natural phenomenon that may cause structural fatigue damage. The objective of this paper for the VIV is to study the so-called vortices shedding mode arising from separated flows around a blunt body by designing a hybrid rigid-flexible thin plate. Furthermore, we construct the modeling for the fluid-structure interaction in viscous flows, which helps to elucidate the relevant mechanism. The fluid and solid domains are established according to CFD and FEM technology, respectively, for which the data mapping at the fluid-solid interface is achieved with the implementation of the least square method plus the shape function interpolation. This work presents a series of numerical simulations to study the fluid-solid interaction of blunt body-flexible/rigid plate in uniform flows, considering with and without flexible plate, different velocities, and different blunt-body shapes. The numerical model is validated against the available literature values, and it reveals good accuracy in simulating blunt body flexible plate-uniform flow interactions. Results show that the introduction of a thin plate leads to notable drag reduction for the blunt body, and the vortices shedding show significant randomness and instability under typical flow velocities and blunt body shapes.

Automated summary

This paper investigates the mechanism and effects of vortex shedding on structures through numerical simulations and model construction. The results show that introducing a flexible thin plate can significantly reduce the drag on the blunt body, but vortex shedding exhibits significant randomness and instability.